Episode 1: Blazing Saddles and Bleeding Behinds
Door: Gerben
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Gerben
05 Juni 2008 | Nederland, Dalfsen
Here it is, the story about the first leg of the journey:
Getting up early was the first thing I did today. 6:30, grey sky, little rain, but above all: not even the slightest hint at any sunshine for the coming day. Too bad, but it could never be as bad as yesterday.
Yesterday I was supposed to leave already, but because I had problems finding a place to sleep at about 50km distance, the amount I thought was suitable for a first day, I decided I would instead take a test ride to Amersfoort and back, around 40km together. The whole day the weather was perfect, until the moment I decided to leave for Amersfoort. I don't know where it came from, I don't know why it was apparently only present in a radius of 1km around me, but it seemed like the Orinoco had suddenly changed course from South America and ended in a waterfall right above my head. Enfin, I'm wet, my bike's wet, my clothes are wet. Nice test ride. On the positive side, how much worse could it get?
Of course, it could get much worse. Luckily, it didn't.
Alright, back to today. I had already done the first bit the day before, so I knew the route for the first 20km. Leaving at 7:40 I arrived in Amersfoort exactly one hour later. In Amersfoort I met up with Elvert, a friend that helped me fix the bicycle, and who had some more stuff he could help me with last minute. Like the holder for a water bottle that is now attached with ducttape to my frame. Very useful, almost professional...
After this 'petit répose' I went on towards Harderwijk. It had been raining a bit all morning, but once past this point the sky finally cleared and it became slightly warmer as the day was coming to noon. This is also where I saw a big hawk going for a mouse about one (1!!!) meter from where I passed at that moment. I stopped quickly because I wanted to take a picure. Sadly, when I finally got my camera from my bag, the hawk was already gone. (de vogel was gevlogen, zogezegd...)
I was really starting to feel my legs go sore at this point, and my ass was protesting every now and then against the hard saddle that it had to get used to. I guess I was paying a little too much attention to this and too little to the road; I passed a little lane I should have taken and only noticed 6km onwards, at which point the best solution was to just keep going in that direction. It turned out to be 10km extra. Luckily, I took pity on myslef and I bought myself an icecream. Oh, the joys of life....
It was getting quite warm by now, and I noticed I had trouble getting up from the chair I had sat down in to eat my delicious little treat. In the end, after a 45min break I hauled myslef up on the bike again, to start the last 25% of the trip. I just checked, I cycled about 115 km today, detour included. Let's hope I get used to it, I still have a leg of 150km to go on Saturday...
The last bit was actually quite nice, I didn't feel my legs at all. This might have disturbed me a little, but I was too happy with the fact that they didn't hurt. I took a little ferry over the River Ijssel. The skipper only demanded a nostalgic 1 euro fee, which fit in nicely with my budget.
Finally, at 5:15pm, about 9.5 hours after I started from the university, I arrived at the place of a good friend of mine, Afke, whose parents are kindly letting me stay at their house at the River Vecht for the night. The beautiful evening will hopefully be a forebode of what's coming tomorrow. Next evening, if everything goes according to my plan, I'll be writing here from Lingen, Germany.
Getting up early was the first thing I did today. 6:30, grey sky, little rain, but above all: not even the slightest hint at any sunshine for the coming day. Too bad, but it could never be as bad as yesterday.
Yesterday I was supposed to leave already, but because I had problems finding a place to sleep at about 50km distance, the amount I thought was suitable for a first day, I decided I would instead take a test ride to Amersfoort and back, around 40km together. The whole day the weather was perfect, until the moment I decided to leave for Amersfoort. I don't know where it came from, I don't know why it was apparently only present in a radius of 1km around me, but it seemed like the Orinoco had suddenly changed course from South America and ended in a waterfall right above my head. Enfin, I'm wet, my bike's wet, my clothes are wet. Nice test ride. On the positive side, how much worse could it get?
Of course, it could get much worse. Luckily, it didn't.
Alright, back to today. I had already done the first bit the day before, so I knew the route for the first 20km. Leaving at 7:40 I arrived in Amersfoort exactly one hour later. In Amersfoort I met up with Elvert, a friend that helped me fix the bicycle, and who had some more stuff he could help me with last minute. Like the holder for a water bottle that is now attached with ducttape to my frame. Very useful, almost professional...
After this 'petit répose' I went on towards Harderwijk. It had been raining a bit all morning, but once past this point the sky finally cleared and it became slightly warmer as the day was coming to noon. This is also where I saw a big hawk going for a mouse about one (1!!!) meter from where I passed at that moment. I stopped quickly because I wanted to take a picure. Sadly, when I finally got my camera from my bag, the hawk was already gone. (de vogel was gevlogen, zogezegd...)
I was really starting to feel my legs go sore at this point, and my ass was protesting every now and then against the hard saddle that it had to get used to. I guess I was paying a little too much attention to this and too little to the road; I passed a little lane I should have taken and only noticed 6km onwards, at which point the best solution was to just keep going in that direction. It turned out to be 10km extra. Luckily, I took pity on myslef and I bought myself an icecream. Oh, the joys of life....
It was getting quite warm by now, and I noticed I had trouble getting up from the chair I had sat down in to eat my delicious little treat. In the end, after a 45min break I hauled myslef up on the bike again, to start the last 25% of the trip. I just checked, I cycled about 115 km today, detour included. Let's hope I get used to it, I still have a leg of 150km to go on Saturday...
The last bit was actually quite nice, I didn't feel my legs at all. This might have disturbed me a little, but I was too happy with the fact that they didn't hurt. I took a little ferry over the River Ijssel. The skipper only demanded a nostalgic 1 euro fee, which fit in nicely with my budget.
Finally, at 5:15pm, about 9.5 hours after I started from the university, I arrived at the place of a good friend of mine, Afke, whose parents are kindly letting me stay at their house at the River Vecht for the night. The beautiful evening will hopefully be a forebode of what's coming tomorrow. Next evening, if everything goes according to my plan, I'll be writing here from Lingen, Germany.
-
05 Juni 2008 - 21:18
Pa:
het voelt een heel klein beetje alsof we meefietsen maar dan zonder de stijve benen of beblaarde billen. Goeie reis morgen. -
05 Juni 2008 - 21:23
Marjoleine:
ik heb vandaag ook 500 meter gefietst, dus ik weet wat je doormaakt! Maar we zetten door,hoe zwaar het ook wordt!! -
06 Juni 2008 - 05:36
Maaike:
Gert en ik zijn speciaal op de fiets naar de zeilvereniging gegaan, en da's wel ongeveer 1km! Dus we herkennen ons in je verhalen (al hadden wij het iets zwaarder, wij konden geen ijsje kopen onderweg) en leven met je mee! -
06 Juni 2008 - 05:54
Maaike:
Hey, in de Metro staat zelfs een fietsspecial vandaag, dat heb je leuk geregeld! Er staat trouwens in dat als je elke dag fietst, je het beste een hard zadel kunt hebben, omdat je dan de minste klachten krijgt (m.a.w., niet zo zeuren ajb). -
06 Juni 2008 - 08:55
Celine:
Heb je wel zo'n leuke broek aan met zo'n nepbiefstuk erin? Dat schijnt toch echt heel ernstig te helpen.
Verder zal ik proberen niet te veel te klagen over mijn 12 km heen en 12 km terugreis naar mijn werk... Veel succes en plezier!! -
06 Juni 2008 - 23:15
Esther:
i know i shouldnt laugh.. and should feel sorry.. =p hahaha too funny! =)
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